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Smart Tags Get New Owner

A promising supply chain technology called Intellitag is about to change hands. TransCore, Inc. announced plans to acquire Amtech Transportation Systems from UNOVA Inc. Amtech includes Intermec Technologies which owns the promising RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology known as Intellitag.Intellitag is based on research by IBM in which tiny tags can be read by an RF scanner without the line of sight required by barcode. Intellitags can also be rewritten. In other words the information they hold can be changed, so they can be used for more complex jobs and used more than once that.Intellitags require no outside power source; they can be read and written to in batches so a pallet or box full of tagged items can be read at the same time by a single device.UNOVA, Inc., specializes in manufacturing systems technology. TransCore markets primarily to the public sector, offering IT (Intelligent Transportation) technology, including automated toll collecting equipment.However, according to a joint UNOVA/TransCore press release Intermec will continue to concentrate on the supply chain market, which is likely to have the most impact on trucking.The transaction, subject to approval by federal anti-trust authorities and by UNOVA's and TransCore's boards of directors, is expected to close by the end of June 2000. Financial details were not disclosed.